My blackstone results with 300v. 500miles only. Note it has sheared down to a 40 weight already. I firmly believe now that the two engines I popped were related to 2500 mile intervals using this race oil!
I don't know how Blackstone can say this oil sample looks good? The Iron level is not good. 17ppm in a 500 mile oil sample is terrible. The aluminum numbers are equally bad. I don't know how much everyone has been paying attention, but KTM, BMW, Porsche & others are having serious oil related engine failures due to high camshaft & timing chain wear. Your iron number is coming from the camshafts & timing chain. I have a problem with all of these YouTubers beating up on manufactures because of their engine failures. I know the manufacture tells them to use their special approved oil & that they can go 6 or 7 thousand miles between oil changes. People who own highly stressed exotic engines need to get this through the heads. The manufactures hands are tied by the EPA. In order to achieve the test results for the emissions systems, they have to tell owners what you see in the Owner's Manual. They can't even give owners the "wink wink" & hint they should use different oil & different service intervals. Those days are gone. If you want to drive these types of high performance engines, you need to understand oil, or get used to arguing with Lawyers & Dealers. You can't even trust the oil analyst. It's good that a few of you guys are trying to legitimately figure this out. You'll begin to notice that it seems like everyone is working against you. If you tried to read Petroleum & Chemical Engineering reports, you would notice they dance around & rarely say anything in plain English. One example I read was 186 pages on soot in diesel oil. Talk about mind numbing. There's hundreds of these technical reports & you'll still need too read between the lines. None of these authors want to jeopardize their carriers pointing out things that are counter to the EPA viewpoint. Even if you could talk to an experienced Ducati or Porsche mechanic, they don't really know very much about oil. They're busy making a living fixing broken stuff. They don't have time to study oil technical data sheets. They manufacture recommends one oil, & they don't have time to argue about it. There are basic things that should be included in every oil's Technical Data Sheet / Material Data Sheet, but they're omitted by most oil companies. If oil companies actually reported this test data, consumers could figure oil which is the best oil.
You commented that 300V sheered down, but you had to make a real effort to figure that out. You should have been able to see that in 300V's technical data. But oil companies hide it. Here's what's the most important & what you should see in the technical data report.
NOACK Volatility: Oil is like water. If you get oil hot enough, it turns into steam. The test is to heat the oil to 450F & measure the volume of steam. The maximum the EPA allows is 13.5% in one hour. This oil steam gets sucked into the crankcase ventilation system. It finally turns into the sludge you see building up over time. The very best oil's have a NOACK value of 3.7%. 5% or 6% is considered pretty good. As the oil vapor leaves the oil, the oil in your crank case gets thicker. This is sludge. Engines with high fuel dilution don't notice the oil becoming sludge, because fuel dilutes the oil. This is even worse. This is why you change the oil frequently. In order to make an oil with low NOACK, it takes real quality. A low NOACK value is a major indicator of a good oil.
Viscosity Index (IV): This number tells you how well the oil maintains & stays within its stated viscosity. The higher the number the better the oil. Real good oils have a VI of 170 to 180. The best I've seen is 245, & that's the special 300V for the Honda Moto GP replica. This oil I $60 per quart. Assuming motorcycles are ridden in warm weather, you want oil with a higher viscosity to protect the engine. Most high performance motorcycles need 10W/60, or 15W/50. If you ride in hot weather over 90F, 20W/60 is a good choice. Motorcycles are compact with small radiators & oil coolers. The engines don't hold much oil, & they're often surrounded by a fairing that traps the heat. 0w/30 oils are for maximum horse power when racing. They are not meant for long engine life.
High Temperature High Sheer (HTHS): This is the film strength oil the oil. The EPA mandated fuel efficient oils have a HTHS of 2.8. The higher the HTHS, the better the oil. Good oils have a HTHS above 5. The best I've seen is Red Line 20W/60 Power Sports, 6.8. Viscosity plays a major roll in increasing the HTHS.
Zinc (ZDDP): Zinc slowly builds up the metal surfaces in your engine. Zinc is the last line of defense when things get really hot & the rest of the lubrication has been lost. Zinc prevents micro welding of the metal surfaces. Obviously you can get an engine so hot the metal galls itself together & the engine locks up. The thicker the zinc barrier, the more stress the engine can withstand. This is why it's important to lay down a good layer of zinc in a new engine as quickly as you can. Break-in oils have very high levels of zinc to do just that. Practically no new engines come with high zinc Break-in oil from the factory. The EPA says zinc in the oil contaminates the catalytic converter & reduces its ability to reduce emissions. I understand the principal, but I've never seen high zinc oils contaminate the catalyst. Even if it did, I would much rather deal with a bad catalytic converter than a bad crankshaft. The EPA oils have about 800ppm of zinc. The best high performance oils have over twice as much zinc. If you can find the oil's zinc content, it will tell you if you have an oil that protects the engine or the emissions system. Never add zinc to your oil. It upsets the chemical balance. Buy oil already made with high zinc.
Ester: Ester is a man made chemical type of oil. Ester synthetic oils are not based off of conventional petroleum oil that's pumped out of the ground. Man made ester chemicals can withstand much higher temperatures before the molecules brake apart. Ester also flows at extremely cold temperatures. Ester does one other really cool thing. Ester chemicals are attracted to metal. They don't completely drain off the metal surfaces when you shut the engine off. The next time you start the engine, there's a thin coating of oil on all the internal parts. This means less wear over the life of the engine.
Flash point: This is the temperature the oil vaporizes. If the engine has a turbocharger, they get very hot when you shut the engine off. The turbo's can get red hot when climbing a mountain in hot weather. If you shut the engine off at the end of your record breaking run up Pike's Peak, the oil in the turbo can vaporize. Obviously the higher the Flash Point, the better the oil. The highest I've seen is 245C.
You're never going to find the highest values in one oil. It's always a compromise.
One last thing I haven't talked about. Traditional Marvel Mystery oil (MMO) in your fuel. Most people use pump gas. It has 10% ethanol. Ethanol attracts moisture from the ambient air. When you let your bike set with fuel in the tank, moisture will eventually damage your fuel pump & the other metal parts in the fuel system. MMO in the fuel also lubricates & protects the injectors. MMO is high detergent & helps keep the varnish cleaned off the fuel system.
Super Magnets on a metal oil filter, or epoxied on the cover of a cartridge oil filter. Super magnets are an easy way to remove the iron powder that's smaller than the oil filter can trap. If you stuck a super magnet somewhere on the oil filter, the 17ppm iron in the 300V test would go to zero.
There's no getting around frequent oil changes. If all of these guys complaining on YouTube changed even the factory oil every 2000 miles, they wouldn't have anything to complain about on YouTube. I wonder how many of those guys will still be riding in 40 years? Will it be their wife who makes them quit, or the first time they see their femur sticking out of the side of their leg?
